Minutes
Ohio HBPA Board Meeting
11:00 am, January 13th, 2023
Ohio HBPA Main Office, Grove City, OH
Members Present: President Joe Poole Directors: Susan Anderson, Bobby Cline, Mark Doering, Bruce Miller, Brian Poe, Mike Rone, Robin Schuster, George Sikora, Kristi Tumblin
Members Unable to Attend: Linda Carrera, Jeff Jarvis
Others Present: Executive Director Dave Basler
Call to Order/ Approval of Minutes:
President Poole called the meeting to order. After review President Poole moved and Director Miller seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the November 18th, 2022 Ohio HBPA board of directors meeting. Motion passed.
Director Doering moved and Director Rone seconded a motion to grant Director Jarvis an excused absence for this meeting due to the passing of his father. Motion passed.
Executive Director’s Report:
The executive director provided the board an update regarding the Ohio HBPA/Belterra retroactive VLT monies lawsuit. Basler also detailed that discovery by both sides in the case had been completed and that the Ohio HBPA’s motion for summary judgement had been fully briefed by both sides. Due to the sensitive and ongoing nature of the case above no further details will be provided in these minutes.
Basler provided updates on HISA including the revised 2023 assessments sent out by HISA as well as updates on the various lawsuits still in play.
Basler provided an update to the board on the Thistledown VLT contract situation noting that he had sent a letter to Thistledown general counsel Dan Reinhard earlier in the month, as authorized by the board at our November meeting, proposing a 10-year extension of the current agreement. Basler noted that Reinhard acknowledged receipt of the letter but that no further discussions had taken place.
Purses and Wagering
Basler updated the board on the current status of the purse accounts at all three Ohio thoroughbred tracks. Detailing that the Mahoning Valley purse account as well as HBPA held funds for Mahoning Valley’s purse account totaled $3,880,332 as of January 1, 2023 which was just over $100,000 more than on the same date in 2022. Thistledown’s purse account funds totaled $5,224,401 as of December 1, 2022 which was up over $700,000 from the December 1, 2021 figure of $4,500,909. Basler detailed that he had not received any additional purse reports from Belterra Park since the last board meeting in November and that the track was working through personnel changes in the accounting department.
The executive director detailed some recent errors on purse reports which included handouts of those purse reports and noted the importance of detailed auditing of all purse reports from each track.
Basler went through handouts provided to the board showing VLT revenues for the state’s seven commercial racetracks which showed that Mahoning Valley recorded a net win of $13,155,785 in December which was up nearly $400,000 from the December ,2021 net win figure at the track. Thistledown had a net win of $14,588,832 in December which was down over $2,000,000 from the prior year net win in December. The net win at Belterra Park was $6,345,029 in December 2022 which was down over $1.65 million from the prior year figure at the track.
Budget and Finance
Following discussion Director Doering moved and Director Rone seconded a motion to grant a personal benevolence request in the amount of $2,500 for a member who had suffered losses due to a house/barn fire. Motion passed.
Discussion was held regarding contributions from the Industry Initiative Fund for 2023.
Director Doering moved and President Poole seconded a motion that a contribution of $35,000 be made from the Industry Initiative Fund to the National HBPA to cover 2023 dues, Horsemen’s Journal assessment, convention registrations and convention sponsorship. Motion passed.
Director Poe moved and Director Cline seconded a motion that a contribution of $15,000 be made from the Industry Initiative Fund to the Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky to support the ongoing research of Dr. Tom Tobin. Motion passed.
Director Rone moved and President Poole seconded a motion that a contribution of $55,000 from the Industry Initiative Fund be made to the Ohio HBPA Scholarship Fund to support on-track, 4H and FFA scholarships. Motion passed.
Director Doering moved and Director Miller seconded a motion that a contribution of $30,000 be made from the Industry Initiative Fund to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund. Motion passed.
Director Schuster moved and Director Poe seconded a motion that a contribution of $75,000 be made from the Industry Initiative Fund to New Vocations in support of their retraining and rehoming of thoroughbreds off of Ohio’s racetracks. Motion passed.
Director Poe moved and President Poole seconded a motion that a contribution of $10,000 be made to the Equine Health and Welfare Alliance in support of their equine medication threshold and contamination research projects. Motion passed.
Director Doering moved and Director Cline seconded a motion that a contribution of $35,000 be made from the Industry Initiative Fund to the Belterra Park Purse account to support purses for quarter horses races run at Belterra Park in 2023. Motion passed.
Director Schuster moved and Director Miller seconded a motion that a contribution of $75,000 from the Industry Initiative Fund be made to CANTER Michigan in support of their rehabilitation and rehoming of thoroughbreds off of Ohio’s racetracks. Motion passed.
Director Doering moved and Director Cline seconded a motion authorizing the executive director to make combined contributions of up to $50,000 to the Ohio Farm Bureau and the Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation supporting sponsorships to and programs of those organizations. Motion passed.
Director Doering moved and Director Miller seconded a motion that contributions from the Industry Initiative Fund in the amounts of $12,000 to the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America in support of Chaplain Pavel for the 2023 racing season at Belterra Park and for $24,000 to the Racetrack Chaplaincy of Ohio in support of the work of Reverend Harris at Mahoning Valley Race Course and Thistledown to be distributed by meet. Motion passed.
The date for the next OHBPA board meeting was set for Friday, March 17th,2023 beginning at 11:00am at the main OHBPA office.
Adjournment:
President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to adjourn. Motion passed.